All Children Deserve a Healthy Learning Environment

Children are inherently more vulnerable to environmental hazards because their bodies are still developing. Substandard environmental conditions in schools, such as insufficient cleaning or inadequate ventilation, can cause serious health problems for children. Evidence that indoor air quality directly impact health and student academic performance continues to mount.

Indoor air quality refers to those characteristics of the air in indoor environments, such as levels of radon, pollutants, humidity, temperature, etc., that impact the occupants’ health, comfort and ability to perform.

Did You Know?

Radon: The House of Representatives

The radon bill from last year passed out of the House of Representatives on Tuesday by a vote of 99-1. The bill was amended and now requires the Department of Education to send a letter on the risk associated with radon, including but not limited to, information on radon testing and mitigation, relevant statistically data, and the funding sources available to all public and nonpublic schools. School districts will then have to report back to the department if they have a radon testing and mitigation plan in place. The information will then be shared to the legislature by January 1, 2015.

The bill now moves to the Senate where they can either concur with the House version or insist on their version. If the Senate concurs, the bill will go to the governor; if they insist on their version it will go to a conference committee for further negotiations.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) was awarded nearly $10.5 million in grants designed to protect children and other vulnerable groups from health hazards in their homes. This funding highlights the link between housing and health and develops cost effective methods for mitigation residential hazards. HUD’s grants are being awarded to academic and non-profit research institutions studying new methods to recognize and control residential health and safety hazards such as asthma triggers, bed bugs, mold and radon